Rykrof Enloe - Homeworld - Naboo. Former Republic Commander, who is now an enemy of the Empire. He has a history of entanglements with the Badoo Corba terrorist organization, dating back prior to the Clone Wars. He is a former close friend of Imperial Baron Tylin Gere and was been forced to embark on a desperate mission to acquire an ancient Sith artifact for Tylin - which ended in failure. Since then, he has inadvertently led Imperial forces to a secret Rebel base on Banyss, which was destroyed by Darth Vader's forces. Rykrof has now been taken captive by the Empire.

Alyssa Enloe - Homeworld - Naboo. The wife of Rykrof Enloe, Alyssa has lived a hard life being married to Rykrof, and has been the target of Rykrof's enemies over the years. She is a survivor, but is now in the captivity of Imperial Baron Tylin Gere.

Caldin Enloe - Homeworld - Naboo. The son of Rykrof and Alyssa Enloe. His grandmother was a Jedi Master. Former Jedi, Kala Mly Shundi, has sensed that the boy is Force-sensitive. Caldin is now in the captivity of Imperial Baron Tylin Gere and has grown to resent his father.

Freelo Macklar - Homeworld - Dak. Former freelance scientist who became friends with Rykrof Enloe during the Clone Wars. Freelo has been known to be timid, but is extremely loyal to the Enloe family.

Kala Mly Shundi - Homeworld - Coruscant. Kala was once the apprentice of Rykrof Enloe's mother, who was a Jedi Master. Kala has flirted with the Dark Side of the Force and experienced terrible visions of the future. He barely survived Order 66, getting ambushed by clone troopers on Braatos VII. He now works with the Rebel Underground in the struggle against the Galactic Empire.

Traedon Cusiro - Homeworld - Corellia. Former bounty hunter who once worked for the Badoo Corba terrorists. He helped Rykrof escape from Separatists on Dathomir during the Clone Wars, but later attempted to kill Senator Padme Amidala. After escaping from prison, he swore an oath to bring down the Empire and joined forces with Kala Mly Shundi.

T-3PO - Homeword - Cybot Galactica. Protocol Droid that has served the Enloe family for years. He survived an Imperial attack on the Enloe homestead and a terrible ordeal on Dathomir.

Tame Heem - Homeworld - Ithor. Former Republic Senator who has sworn to bring about the destruction of the Empire. His connections to current senators sympathetic to the Rebel cause make him an invaluable asset to the Rebellion. Tame and Rykrof have a long relationship; dating back to the Crisis on Abridon, which took place shortly prior to the Battle of Naboo.

Baron Tylin Gere - Homeworld - Naboo. Former close ally of Rykrof Enloe, the two served as Republic Peace Officers prior to the Clone Wars and later as officers in the Grand Army of the Republic. Tylin thirsts for power and has become obsessed with acquiring an ancient Sith artifact, which was recently acquired by Darth Vader, who he secretly sees as a rival. He has taken custody of Alyssa and Caldin Enloe, and ordered the death of Rykrof's father.

Emperor Palpatine - Homeword - Naboo. Dark Lord of the Sith and the undisputed leader of the Galactic Empire. Attempted to mold Rykrof Enloe as the ideal Imperial officer but failed. He takes great interest in Baron Tylin Gere's personal quests for power and admires his ambition.

Darth Vader - Homeworld - Tatooine. Dark Lord of the Sith and follows the instructions of his master, Emperor Palpatine. During the Clone Wars, he was once friends with Rykrof Enloe. He considers Rykrof a traitor to the Empire but also is fully aware that Rykrof once helped protect Padme Amidala. However, his loyalties to Emperor Palpatine are secure.

Just days ago, Imperial forces assaulted a secret rebel base on Banyys.

The defenders of the complex fought bravely...

...but were vastly outnumbered.

Even the presence of several Jedi Knights was not enough to stem the tide...

...as the Empire crushed their opposition.

A small number of rebels managed to escape...

...but Rykrof Enloe was taken captive.

Held aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer, Rykrof knows he his doomed.

Under constant guard, and highly sedated, he drifts in and out of consciousness.

The past comes back to him.

His adult life has been filled with conflict...

...and desperation for survival.

In this galaxy of turmoil, few remain that Rykrof can trust...

...as the leadership he entrusted confidence in was nothing more than a ploy...

...to gain absolute control over the galaxy.

Even his childhood friend, Tylin Gere, has been seduced by the darkness...

...resulting in a passion for power that has put Rykrof's family in harm's way.

The horrors of the Empire have become constant nightmares...

...old enemies have been replaced by new foes...

...those closest to him seem to be letting go...

...and are ready to pursue their own paths.

He is becoming a man with nothing to lose.

Far away, a lone shuttle has landed on the distant world of Nalwuun.

The planet houses a small rebel base...

...with a variety of brave souls who dare to oppose the Empire.

Departing from their shuttle, Traedon Cusiro and Freelo Macklar look forward to reconnecting with an old friend.

"It's a relief to see you both," Kala exhales."We were lucky that any of us survived the assault on Banyys."

"Any news on Rykrof?"

"I'm afraid not," Kala admits."And I've been unable to connect with him through the Force."

"What does that mean? Is he dead?"

"No, I don't believe that's the case," Kala assures him."If he were to have been killed, I'm certain I would have sensed it."

"Rykrof was responsible for what happened," Kala interjects."But, we know none of this was intentional. He inadvertently brought back an Imperial homing device to the base."

"But at this time there may not be much I can do," Kala says sadly."Given the collapse of Banyss, representatives from several rebel cells will be gathering here throughout the coming week. My presence is vital."

"Rykrof is a good man," Tame concedes. "I can't spare you any bodies, but I can grant you supplies if you choose to search for him. Take what you need."

WOW! That was awesome! Really great characterization, as always! It was fascinating to watch Vader struggle with his emotions, felt very authentic! Freelo and Tradeon's scene was excellent, Kala's line was fantastic! Loved the sets, really magnificent work!

You've set up some great action for the coming chapters and certainly put Enloe in quite a predicament!

Awesome chapter, but I must admit something...I actually read it in the test forum when you posted it there. This is my second time reading it, so I have had a bit more time to digest the info than usual! I think upon my first reading I didn't quite initially catch that Vader lied about Rykrof's death. The line about the prisoner not surviving the torture somehow flew right over my head that first time. It didn't stand out enough or I may have misread it completely on that first go around. I of course caught on to the lie a bit into the chapter, when the Gere's had their little discussion, but initially I overlooked that plot point somehow.

It's definitely interesting to see Vader "repay" Rykrof's favor because for the past three weeks when I have had a few minutes to spare I've been reading your first series. I remember the originals on RS, but I couldn't remember the plot 100%. I thought it was about time I read through the remake. I had actually just finished the chapter where Padme is almost assassinated and Rykrof sees Anakin. Talk about timing!

Your photography is, as always, excellent! Reading through the PN, it's really cool to see how your style and set design developed over time. It definitely became more and more familiar to your recent installments as time went by. I think this frame is definitely my favorite from this installment. It's just a great shot!

As always, I can't wait to see the next chapter. It's always cool to see returning plot points in a series, and you've definitely pulled it off well!

CloneCrazy wrote:WOW! That was awesome! Really great characterization, as always! It was fascinating to watch Vader struggle with his emotions, felt very authentic! Freelo and Tradeon's scene was excellent, Kala's line was fantastic! Loved the sets, really magnificent work!

You've set up some great action for the coming chapters and certainly put Enloe in quite a predicament!

Thanks Matt - I know this wasn't a chapter with any sort of action to speak of, other than a bit of "flashback sequences" - which I really enjoyed adding because it was fun going back to the original series and selecting some pics that I wanted to use to bring some context to Rykrof's past.

As for Vader's emotions, I have been waiting for a long time to have some sort of "thank you" back to Rykrof for his actions dating back to when Rykrof was involved in preventing an assassination attempt on Padme. I'm not sure many people would realize this, but the assassin was Traedon Cusiro. Rykrof arrested him, threw him in prison - then years later, Traedon turned up working with Kala.

The Rebel sets that I built took a long time. They are made mostly from plywood and balsa wood.

The Imperial stuff is from Owen Driscoll's custom Star Destroyers. Man those things are awesome. Unfortunately, one of them I received was damaged during shipping, and also has a lot of issues with the flooring but I'm able to "edit" the problems out.

Yes - upcoming chapters will have quite a bit of action - and a new direction for a few characters.

Oh man you scared me Chewie! Could he really have killed him off?! Like that?? No dramatic death scene?! Who will take up the mantle of the series? His kiddo isn't ready! But then I thought the better of it and indeed I love what you just set up - he's being sent to a hellhole prison and there's gonna be some bad dudes in there? Idea - give him prisoner id #24601

I'm not clear on what it is Gere wants with Rykrof's family. He has the hots for the wife I think, but how delusional would he have to be to think she'd go for him? He's not quite right in the head; pretty ballsy asking Vader if he was successful, yikes! I like Gere's nephew, he looks like Brad Dourif! What figure is that head from? For a moment I thought Vader was gonna make a deal with Rykrof and use him as a spy or something but I love what you did. Can't wait to see what happens!

Freelo is my fave character but I think he needs a new outfit, the one he's got is too "stock" or generic or something, doesn't measure up to the other characters' amazing customs. I don't like you used a clean droid at the rebel base, it should be dirty! The three R1-G4 droids there are awesome.

Technical stuff - phenomenal as always, you spent a lot of frames recounting the past some neat photo work to do that, I liked it. One particular shot of Kala is amazing, I'm going to use it as thumbnail for this chapter at the photonovel alliance site.

Sigh, and just like that it's over. How long till the next chapter? Bravo!

Wonderful story. The action is in the dialogue and how the stage has been set for some thrilling heroics to come.

This episode is beautifully woven together. Great scenery moving from the parts of the Star Destroyer to the rebel base.

The interaction between Vader and Tylin is really neat. We see in the original film Vader battling in the political sense rival Imperials. The Marvel comics take that a step further with Baron Tagge; Shadows of the Empire has Xizor. I like that Chewie is using a similar rivalry to move the story along. There has to be an immense amount of back stabbing and jockeying for position within the Imperial hierarchy. I like this alot. Well done.

The story is taking an even darker trajectory with the Enloe family going to hear that Rykrof is dead. Oh man. It is making my stomach turn thinking of the evil Tylin and what he will be up to.

Vader does good by saving Enloe and hiding him. But in an imperial prison. Allowing the Baron to keep Enloe's wife--yuck.

Great look for all the customs. Enloe is perfect in the Finn body and possibly either Han Solo or some gi joe guy's forearms.

Kala looks great. Freelo is wonderful in that get up. the bounty hunter is good as well.

I have not forgotten the protocal droid is just a head. I can't wait to see the creativity in how ridiculous he might look in the next chapter.

Just another solid A. Flashbacks were good way to catch up a new person and the direction of the story really is keeping your avid readers on pins and needles.

Well done. I have to send you some pictures. I have some hammerhead rebels you might really like.

Jodo wrote:Awesome chapter, but I must admit something...I actually read it in the test forum when you posted it there. This is my second time reading it, so I have had a bit more time to digest the info than usual! I think upon my first reading I didn't quite initially catch that Vader lied about Rykrof's death. The line about the prisoner not surviving the torture somehow flew right over my head that first time. It didn't stand out enough or I may have misread it completely on that first go around. I of course caught on to the lie a bit into the chapter, when the Gere's had their little discussion, but initially I overlooked that plot point somehow.

Thanks Jodo!

You didn't misread anything if you looked at it early in the test section, I went back and forth with a few versions of it. At first I wasn't going to have Vader tell Tylin that Rykrof's dead. I was going to have Vader tell him that Rykrof was being moved to a secure prison location of Vader's choosing. After some discussions with Lance Quazar, I was swayed to go this route.

Jodo wrote:It's definitely interesting to see Vader "repay" Rykrof's favor because for the past three weeks when I have had a few minutes to spare I've been reading your first series. I remember the originals on RS, but I couldn't remember the plot 100%. I thought it was about time I read through the remake. I had actually just finished the chapter where Padme is almost assassinated and Rykrof sees Anakin. Talk about timing!

Yeah - all along, I always planned on somehow Anakin being in debt to Rykrof. I wanted to keep that as an option for a story in this era and hope it made sense and worked out.

That is really coincidental timing that you had gone back recently and read that chapter...

Jodo wrote:Your photography is, as always, excellent! Reading through the PN, it's really cool to see how your style and set design developed over time. It definitely became more and more familiar to your recent installments as time went by. I think this frame is definitely my favorite from this installment. It's just a great shot!

As always, I can't wait to see the next chapter. It's always cool to see returning plot points in a series, and you've definitely pulled it off well!

I really appreciate that - and I have to say, the photography is a constant struggle for me. I have real issues getting my cameras to focus on the right item. So I take tons of pics - usually anywhere from 1500-2000 per chapter. I take the best ones, then to better focus on key elements, I blur out the backgrounds in photoimpact with the blurring tool.

Again - thank you. I guess you can see more in the test section moving forward if you want. You can test out yours there too, you know.

YAK_Chewie wrote:You didn't misread anything if you looked at it early in the test section, I went back and forth with a few versions of it. At first I wasn't going to have Vader tell Tylin that Rykrof's dead. I was going to have Vader tell him that Rykrof was being moved to a secure prison location of Vader's choosing. After some discussions with Lance Quazar, I was swayed to go this route.

Yeah - all along, I always planned on somehow Anakin being in debt to Rykrof. I wanted to keep that as an option for a story in this era and hope it made sense and worked out.

That is really coincidental timing that you had gone back recently and read that chapter...

It's interesting that you had a few versions of it. Personally, I think you made a good choice with the option you picked. I think it definitely fits in with the darker side of things, as it creates a rift between the Imperials. Plus, Gere was already after the artifact, and Rykrof's family, so maybe this is a good way to set up Rykrof's triumphant return! And I do recall the Emperor and Vader talking about Gere getting a bit too far out of hand as well...

And I finished The Enloe Chronicles! For Trials, I still need to read the first 3 or 4, then I'll have read them all.

Yak_Chewie wrote:I really appreciate that - and I have to say, the photography is a constant struggle for me. I have real issues getting my cameras to focus on the right item. So I take tons of pics - usually anywhere from 1500-2000 per chapter. I take the best ones, then to better focus on key elements, I blur out the backgrounds in photoimpact with the blurring tool.

I was going to eventually ask you how many shots you normally took for each chapter. I know for my 50-60 frames I usually take about 400 shots, and then give up. Lighting is definitely my biggest struggle. I think the frames end up being either too dark or way too bright. I can't find a happy medium ever. Then, as luck would have it, one of my two lights went out when I was shooting the last two chapters. I think I was able to salvage it by lightening them in effects, but then they tend to get a bit grainy. :/

Focusing is pretty much the only benefit of using my phone to shoot my PN, since you can touch the screen to focus on your designated focal point. It's an older Iphone 4, but it still gets the job done better than my digital camera from the 2000's. I'm actually due for an upgrade on my cell plan, so Era of Darkness might go hi-def here soon.

Congratulations on the new chapter! Looks and feels great. I liked the flashbacks, cool idea and well made. The story itself, although withought much action, was tence and intriguing till the end. Still very impressed with Tylin's nephew - pretty nasty and sleezy looking son of a... somebody I must agan admire the lightning you achieve, it gives a lot of depth and atmosphere to the scenes. My only sugestion will be to change sometning about Vader for the next chapter - is this the ROTS BlS helmet? Personally I like it, but I think there is a more aggressive and intimidating-looking one out there. Also, in close shots, the Hasbro cape looks almost like a fishnet - too rough. Try making one of microfibre or PM me, I could try and make one, if you wish

Darth Kikinou wrote:Oh man you scared me Chewie! Could he really have killed him off?! Like that?? No dramatic death scene?! Who will take up the mantle of the series? His kiddo isn't ready! But then I thought the better of it and indeed I love what you just set up - he's being sent to a hellhole prison and there's gonna be some bad dudes in there? Idea - give him prisoner id #24601

Ha ha, no Rykrof's not going to be dead just yet and his son certainly is not ready. Who is to say that his son will pick up the mantle though? And the prison is going to be quite different than anyone would expect (hopefully). It won't be a traditional prison setting. Nice call on the prisoner ID. Heh.

Darth Kikinou wrote:I'm not clear on what it is Gere wants with Rykrof's family. He has the hots for the wife I think, but how delusional would he have to be to think she'd go for him? He's not quite right in the head; pretty ballsy asking Vader if he was successful, yikes! I like Gere's nephew, he looks like Brad Dourif! What figure is that head from? For a moment I thought Vader was gonna make a deal with Rykrof and use him as a spy or something but I love what you did. Can't wait to see what happens!

Yes, he is into Alyssa. Tylin has always resented Rykrof for having the relationship with her - I never backfilled that story but at some point I might. Perhaps a flashback at some point. But the three of them have known each other for years. Tylin was a few years older and basically was outraged that Rykrof and her became an item, and always felt Rykrof was more about personal choices than listening to his superiors (a few instances of that happened during the Clone Wars.).

The Vlarra Gere head is from a Loki figure that I repainted. I do see the Brad Dourif resemblance.

Also, expect most of the plot to center on Rykrof's predicament for a while.

Darth Kikinou wrote:Freelo is my fave character but I think he needs a new outfit, the one he's got is too "stock" or generic or something, doesn't measure up to the other characters' amazing customs. I don't like you used a clean droid at the rebel base, it should be dirty! The three R1-G4 droids there are awesome.

That Freelo has more painting on it than it may appear, but I hear ya. He's not going to have that same outfit when he's seen again, unless I do a quick shot or two of him and Traedon for the next chapter. I didn't want to paint up that droid just yet because honestly, I have altered SO many figures for this series and felt that was one that I liked how he looks as a stock figure.

Darth Kikinou wrote:Technical stuff - phenomenal as always, you spent a lot of frames recounting the past some neat photo work to do that, I liked it. One particular shot of Kala is amazing, I'm going to use it as thumbnail for this chapter at the photonovel alliance site.

Sigh, and just like that it's over. How long till the next chapter? Bravo!

Thanks - glad you liked how this one turned out. I felt the past frames would fit in nicely here and try and portray the Rykrof ones in blue, while contrasting Vader's memories in red.

How long until next chapter... I don't know. Probably a while. I have to create a whole new planet for the place Rykrof is being sent. I already finished most of the customs though for it going back about three years.